sly

1 clever at attaining one's ends by indirect and often deceptive means the movie pairs a sly, dissembling ex-con with an upstanding, straight-arrow cop Synonyms of sly beguiling, cagey (also cagy), crafty, cunning, cute, designing, devious, dodgy [chiefly British], foxy, guileful, scheming, shrewd, slick, artful, subtle, tricky, wilyWords Related to sly astute, facile, glib, sharp; crooked, deceitful, deceptive, dishonest, fraudulent, insinuating, knavish, Machiavellian, oblique, serpentine, shady, shifty, slippery, sneaky, treacherous, underhand, underhanded, unscrupulous; backhanded, double-dealing, hypocritical, insincere, left-handed, mealy, mealymouthed, smooth-tongued, two-faced; circuitous, circular, roundabout; clandestine, concealed, covert, furtive, hugger-mugger, secret, stealthy, surreptitious, undercover; calculating, plottingNear Antonyms of sly obvious, open, patent, plain, public, unconcealed; aboveboard, candid, direct, forthright, frank, honest, natural, outspoken, plainspoken, real, simple, sincere, straightforward, unaffected, unpretending, unpretentious, unvarnished; childlike, impressionable, simpleminded, unsophisticated, unworldly; unforced, unstudied; trustful, trustingAntonyms of sly artless, guileless, ingenuous, innocent, undesigning

2 given to acting in secret and to concealing one's intentions why, you sly fellow! I had no idea you were planning my birthday party Synonyms of sly furtive, shady, shifty, slippery, sneaky, sneaking, stealthyWords Related to sly artful, crafty, cunning, devious, foxy, guileful, slick, wily; close, closemouthed, reticent, secretive; clandestine, covert, dark; deceitful, deceiving, deceptive, devious, duplicitous, trickish, tricky, underhand, underhanded; cheating, crooked, defrauding, dishonest, dissembling, double-dealing, knavish, two-faced; lying, mendacious, untrustworthy, untruthful; insidious, perfidious, serpentine, treacherousNear Antonyms of sly aboveboard, forthright, plainspoken, straightforward; candid, direct, foursquare, frank, open, plain; honest, trustworthy, truthful

3 tending to or exhibiting reckless playfulness a sly sense of humor Synonyms of sly arch, devilish, elvish, espiègle, impish, knavish, leprechaunish, pixie (also pixy), pixieish, prankish, puckish, rascally, roguish, scampish, mischievous, tricksy, waggish, wickedWords Related to sly antic, coltish, coy, frisky, frolicsome, kittenish, playful, sportful, sportive; gay, happy, lighthearted, whimsical; energetic, lively, spirited, sprightly; artful, crafty, cunning, trickish, tricky, wily; misbehaving, naughty, troublemaking; pestering, riling, teasingNear Antonyms of sly grave, grim, sedate, sober, solemn, staid, stern